On March 7, 2008 the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Jurupa Valley Station Community Action Team, in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives executed a weapons violation search warrant at Bright Spot Pawn in Glen Avon. The search was based upon false information that sales of illegal AK-47 “assault weapons” were occurring from the location. After hours of administering the search warrant on Bright Spot Pawn, ten AK-47 style firearms were seized that were alleged to be “assault weapons” in violation of California Law. Seeking attention for the seizure, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department issued a press release announcing that “ten AK-style assault weapons were seized that were in violation of California law.“ The only problem, however, was that the firearms were not “assault weapons.”

Currently, there are three types of “assault weapons.” The first type of “assault weapons” are those identified in the California Penal Code by make and model. The second type of “assault weapons” are those deemed to be “series” type “assault weapons,” essentially firearms identical to the AK-47 or Colt AR-15 model firearms. This vague standard was the subject of much controversy due to the subjective nature of the statute. The ambiguity of whether or not a firearm is a “series” type led the Supreme Court to limit the application of this second category of “assault weapon” laws. In Harrott v. County of Kings, the Supreme Court held that “in order to have any other semiautomatic firearms declared assault weapons within the meaning of section 12276, the Attorney General must utilize the add-on procedure set forth in section 12276.5.” In other words, series type firearms must be listed in the Code of Regulations in order to be deemed “assault weapons.” The third type of “assault weapon” is determined by a generic features test based upon the characteristics of the firearm.

The firearms seized from Bright Spot Pawn were alleged to be “AK-47 style” series “assault weapons.” The firearms seized, however, were not listed. After further investigation of the “assault weapon” laws, the Harrott ruling in hand in hand, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department took the honorable and lawful route of returning the firearms last week – a route not taken often enough other law enforcement agencies that mis-interpret California’s complex firearm laws.

Bright Spot Pawn is currently working with their lawyers to seek a public retraction of their false statements that ten “assault weapons were seized in violation of California law.” Such false claims have had an impact on the business and reputation of Bright Spot Pawn in the community. Whether the Department will stand-up and correct their baseless claims remains to be seen.

Bright Spot Pawn and Trutanich-Michel, LLP extend their thanks and gratitude for those members of CalGuns.net that supported, both financially and morally, Bright Spot Pawn in their efforts to educate local law enforcement on the issue of "assault weapons" and have their firearms returned.

Love to start a weekend with some good news. One more department that should know better in the future (I hope).

Sig357

04-25-2008, 5:32 PM

Great news :jump:

Love to start a weekend with some good news. One more department that should know better in the future (I hope).

Great news which makes an excellent point about the legality of our OLL goodies in Riverside County and all of CA. Great job T&M, BSP & last but not least The Calguns Foundation.:)

Glock22Fan

04-25-2008, 5:39 PM

Fan-TASTIC!

Utha Schleigle

04-25-2008, 5:41 PM

Great News!!!! I was talking today about this with my FFl.

I NOT DONE HERE!!!!

Brite Spot MUST look into sueing the pants off the Sheriff's Dept. Yes I do support law enforcement and would depfend them in most cases, but the Sheriff's Dept was not going after criminals here. HARASSMENT of a legitmate business - a business operating within the law - TV coverage - loss of good will of the business. IT IS PAY MY LWAYERS BILLS time.

If a client of Brite Spot broke a rule - cool - process him. Book him - fine him.

Is it easier to arrest and harrass regular people/busineses than catch real criminals. COME ON.

762cavalier

04-25-2008, 5:42 PM

:party::party::party::party:

Awesome News. That just made my whole weekend.

Quiet

04-25-2008, 5:44 PM

Excellent news! :jump:

AS45-70

04-25-2008, 5:48 PM

happy dance

Diablo

04-25-2008, 5:54 PM

Congratulations!!!!!:party:

RP1911

04-25-2008, 5:55 PM

This is great news. Maybe the Sheriff's department will put pressure on DOJ to update the CA Firearms law section to reflect the Harrot decision after they pay up a huge amount for defamation. I won't hold my breath.

On another note, the transfer of the Mossberg 9200 that was auctioned off will happen tomorrow and the winning bid amount will be forwarded to the appropriate party. Winner was traveling and that's the cause of the delay in sending the funds.

Way to go BSP and TM.

mvpatriot

04-25-2008, 5:56 PM

Great news for everybody involved!

Big thanks to Chris and the others @ BSP for putting their necks on the line so we can exersise our rights.
:gunsmilie:

Glock30

04-25-2008, 5:58 PM

I wanted to post this last week but thought it was best to wait until someone directly related to them posted it!

I'm glad to hear they finally got them back and I will be up there tomorrow (=

paladin4415

04-25-2008, 6:20 PM

Great news...very well done.

pnkssbtz

04-25-2008, 6:26 PM

What about accountability for the PD departments?

DedEye

04-25-2008, 6:29 PM

Awesome!

:jump::hurray::rockon::clap::cheers2::party:

Decoligny

04-25-2008, 6:32 PM

:King:

Roccobro

04-25-2008, 6:37 PM

CONGRATULATIONS! That was a pretty quick resolution!

We can only hope and other LE indiscretion is resolved so quickly!

Justin

C.G.

04-25-2008, 7:23 PM

Cool!:cool2:

Harrison_Bergeron

04-25-2008, 7:29 PM

Any plans to try and get a retraction from the media outlets that ran the story?

Bad Voodoo

04-25-2008, 7:29 PM

Bright Spot Pawn is currently working with their lawyers to seek a public retraction of their false statements that ten “assault weapons were seized in violation of California law.” Such false claims have had an impact on the business and reputation of Bright Spot Pawn in the community. Whether the Department will stand-up and correct their baseless claims remains to be seen.

By "public retraction" I certainly hope that means a press conference, and press release to every media outlet in CA. That's something else not seen often enough in these unlawful seizures.

NiteQwill

04-25-2008, 7:30 PM

Good work!

hoffmang

04-25-2008, 7:36 PM

By "public retraction" I certainly hope that means a press conference, and press release to every media outlet in CA. That's something else not seen often enough in these unlawful seizures.

In due time. One of the sensitivities at this exact stage is that we may get more out of this with the carrot instead of the stick.

An interesting fact: DOJ BoF was not involved in this incident before the search warrant was executed and the off list AKs were seized which gives this a bit of a different flavor.

-Gene

USN CHIEF

04-25-2008, 7:40 PM

Nice.... Good Job to TRUTANICH - MICHEL, LLP. Freaking awsome news...

Bad Voodoo

04-25-2008, 7:41 PM

In due time. One of the sensitivities at this exact stage is that we may get more out of this with the carrot instead of the stick.

An interesting fact: DOJ BoF was not involved in this incident before the search warrant was executed and the off list AKs were seized which gives this a bit of a different flavor.

-Gene

Are you saying DOJ BoF may have advised RCSD that the seizure was illegal after execution of the warrant? :eek: If so, that would be different, wouldn't it?

jksupplyco

04-25-2008, 7:45 PM

Good to hear! Keep the faith guys! We're winning!:rockon:

The power is in EDUCATION!:King:

hoffmang

04-25-2008, 8:04 PM

Are you saying DOJ BoF may have advised RCSD that the seizure was illegal after execution of the warrant? :eek: If so, that would be different, wouldn't it?

Well, I certainly can't rule that out. Sorry to have to be a bit obtuse.

-Gene

gunsnrovers

04-25-2008, 8:18 PM

Fantastic news. :D

enduro4fun

04-25-2008, 8:20 PM

excellent news

69Mach1

04-25-2008, 8:30 PM

Congratulations to all involved, and a big thanks to Chris and the gang at Bright Spot Pawn for standing up to these bullies. Hopefully this will now shine a light (a bad one) on the BOF's outdated resources. I hope at least J. Brown will realize that they can be liable for not updating information that is released to the LEO of the State. Shame on the BOF for letting it get this far.

hawk1

04-25-2008, 8:38 PM

Excellent work people! TRUTANICH - MICHEL, LLP and all those that helped to fight the good fight.

Let's not make this personal.

Roccobro

04-25-2008, 8:43 PM

I'll go get my popcorn....

:lurk5:

I don't think I've ever read of him humbling himself and accepting he was wrong. He does like to point out how many forums he's been booted off. Kinda like that he OK with his stubbornness....

But I could just be reading to (much or) far into his rantings. :D

Justin

duenor

04-25-2008, 8:45 PM

Please let us know how much Brite still owns MT.
I wont donate to them, but I will go shop there and put in a good word for them everywhere.

How embarrassing for the Riverside PD eh? Plus getting the media involved. :smilielol5:

Utha Schleigle

04-25-2008, 9:17 PM

In due time. One of the sensitivities at this exact stage is that we may get more out of this with the carrot instead of the stick.

An interesting fact: DOJ BoF was not involved in this incident before the search warrant was executed and the off list AKs were seized which gives this a bit of a different flavor.

-Gene

Probably more diplomatic and intlegent approach than my calling for a suit against the Sheriff's dept and TV news out lets for hurting Brite Spots Goodwill/rights/goods is best. It is just gun owners/stores are unfarely portrayed as foaming at the mouth - 600 rnd per minute idoits in the spot light and front page. Then when it's I'm sorry we made a mistake time - it is nothing or page G45 in the paper. The propaganda lie message to the public still stands. The only way to get these arrogant officials and media outlets to say WE WERE WRONG is to theaten to take money from them or hurt their carreers. Other wise they seem to laught at you - after they hurt you and you call them on it.

Brite Spot should at least get a retraction - leagal fees - loss reciepted business - paid for loss of time.

gonzo

04-25-2008, 9:30 PM

Yeah!!!! Baby!!!:)

Glad to hear that BSP did not have legal property stolen from them.
Nice to know we are moving onward and up.

bg

04-25-2008, 9:44 PM

Well good news indeed. I know Jeff and Chris are happy
with this. I'll have to stop by and say hello. Besides it's
time for me to do some more tool shopping. Both of them
have given me pretty good deals and I know Jeff wishes
he still had my 2nd Gen Colt SAA I bought off him about
10 or 11 years ago.

Thanks to all who anted up and to the Law Firm for taking
the case on and to those members here who really helped
get things rolling while staying low keyed.

Beatone

04-25-2008, 11:09 PM

+1 on the good news. :party: :jump: :party: :taz: :p

Shawn L

04-25-2008, 11:26 PM

Great news!!!

artherd

04-26-2008, 3:04 AM

Great news, as expected ;)

Riverside PD really screwed the pooch here with their blanket factual statement (that they reasonably should have known to be false on it's face.)

All of the elements for a slam-dunk civil suit are here. It will be interesting to see just how much blood Chris wants.

If any law enforcement, or other, agency ever made such a blatant attempt at my character assassination as Riverside PD did to Chris & John, I can promise them an un-ending **** storm of all time; ask the Bureau why they are no longer a Department.

Okami

04-26-2008, 4:28 AM

Fantastic News!
Great Job Everyone involved!:cheers2:

futureExpat

04-26-2008, 7:11 AM

great news!!

My next big purchase will be at Bright Spot Pawn!

BillCA

04-26-2008, 8:08 AM

By "public retraction" I certainly hope that means a press conference, and press release to every media outlet in CA. That's something else not seen often enough in these unlawful seizures.

In due time. One of the sensitivities at this exact stage is that we may get more out of this with the carrot instead of the stick.

An interesting fact: DOJ BoF was not involved in this incident before the search warrant was executed and the off list AKs were seized which gives this a bit of a different flavor.

-Gene

Just one guy's opinion...

I would think that one approach might be to discuss a joint press conference with RSD in which RSD apologizes for the error and BSP/T-M blasts the BOF for failing to support the both the LEOs and citizens by clarifying the law. Heck, it took a group of Calguns volunteers to come up with a straightforward flow-chart that both citizens and LEOs could use. Why is it that DOJ-BOF couldn't do that in 7 years?

Such a press conference would allow RSD to publicly apologize and allow the victim (BSP/T-M) to blast DOJ which keeps RSD from being agency non grata at DOJ. During the Q&A portion, the Sheriff can add fuel by explaining how BOF's lack of initiative and failing to update LEOs aided the problem. This gets BSP a public apology, shifts some of the burden to DOJ and turns the spotlight on the state agency responsible for FUD.

In return, the RSD might agree to signing off on BSP's legal bill and a reasonable sum for loss of business without the expense of involving yet more lawyers. This latter could be done quietly for the sake of RSD.

Of course, this assumes that RSD and the Riverside DA made good-faith efforts to understand BSP's arguments without heavy handed dealings or resorting to threats of greater prosecution.

hoffmang

04-26-2008, 8:30 AM

I think everyone here would not call me a defender of DOJ BoF, but I would not want to damage any good will we may have created here.

-Gene

Utha Schleigle

04-26-2008, 9:37 AM

Calmer heads than mine should prevail - to get the most long tern benefit for Brite Spot.

I would like to be a fly on the wall in the meeting room in the Sheriff's dept - where they are disccussing what to do next. This would be entertaining!!!! Shifting the blame to someone else (CA DOJ) would be standard operating procedure.

bwiese

04-26-2008, 9:38 AM

I think everyone here would not call me a defender of DOJ BoF, but I would not want to damage any good will we may have created here.

Correct, blanket condemnations are not useful.

This was not a DOJ-instigated/DOJ-extended effort - hell, they appear not to have known about it until after the fact. There appears also to be no pressure by DOJ BoF to force prosecution even if RSO (RSD?) were getting cold feet.

While of course DOJ 's AWIG ('Iggy's Coloring Book') is outdated and mostly useless (despite their constitutional (CA) duty to be 'reference standard' for law enforcement) the BSP bust was a local affair not driven at all (or apparently even responded to) by DOJ BoF.

RobG

04-26-2008, 10:03 AM

:party: Awesome news. Correct if wrong but, so far none of these OLL arrests have resulted in prosecution?

lrdchivalry

04-26-2008, 10:14 AM

Excellent news!!

:party:

Sam Hainn

04-26-2008, 10:42 AM

Excellent news. Further proof that LEO will all grow in awareness & promote logical views eventually.

hoffmang

04-26-2008, 11:11 AM

Also to clarify a bit above. The search was conducted by the Riverside Sheriff's Office with ATF involvement apparently.

-Gene

LEO

04-26-2008, 11:13 AM

Very good news.
I will put my tax rebate to good use.

artherd

04-26-2008, 12:25 PM

If DOJ contributed to this, it was through failure to act (updating the AWIG) rather than overt acts.

Still.

Casual Observer

04-26-2008, 12:41 PM

Also to clarify a bit above. The search was conducted by the Riverside Sheriff's Office with ATF involvement apparently.

-Gene

It's been my understanding that ATF is frequently involved with most crimes involving "illegal" firearms (gang shootings, Anti-terrorism TF, etc). Had the seized weapons actually been illegal, shipping them across state lines would make it a Federal matter IIRC.

Rascal

04-26-2008, 1:03 PM

Great news for bright Spot!!! I surely hope they can recoup their losses on this.

Maybe we should send the Riverside sheriffs office a copy of our CA Aw ID Flowchart, so they don't make any more mistakes? ;)

Maybe we should send Jerry Brown one too! :D

Cr6IC

04-26-2008, 3:15 PM

Fantastic news. Bright Spot is going to get my gun business from here on out. Glad they had the stones to take this to its conclusion.

savageevo

04-26-2008, 3:44 PM

Great news. A few points on our side. I am glad that Riverside county could really be safe in owning OLL. I hope the news on there screwup is heard in all cities in the riverside county. Another party on the way I hope. It would be nice to have a BBQ at BSP and all Calgunners attend.

ldivinag

04-26-2008, 6:07 PM

ok...

58 counties and DAs...

-1 with BWO... check...
-1 with BSP... check...

how many more?

Sydwaiz

04-26-2008, 10:49 PM

Does this mean that grip screws can't be considered pistol grips?

DrunkSkunk

04-26-2008, 10:55 PM

are they transfering ak's again yet?

Stormfeather

04-26-2008, 11:23 PM

Great Job BriteSpot! Kudos to T-M of course! Lets keep taking the fight to them guys!

wilit

04-27-2008, 1:17 AM

Awesome news! Glad to see it didn't go through the same horror story as BWO. Please post up the apology once it is released. :D

robitrocks

04-27-2008, 2:58 AM

Fan-flippin-tastic!

hawk1

04-27-2008, 8:42 AM

are they transfering ak's again yet?

Yes

drawn

04-27-2008, 9:22 AM

Great news for bright Spot!!! I surely hope they can recoup their losses on this.

Maybe we should send the Riverside sheriffs office a copy of our CA Aw ID Flowchart, so they don't make any more mistakes? ;)

Maybe we should send Jerry Brown one too! :D

They had the flow chart 2 days after this happened. It may be a good idea to send the flow chart out to agencies as an attempt to avoid these actions in the first place.

hoffmang

04-27-2008, 10:46 AM

Does this mean that grip screws can't be considered pistol grips?

Yes, but it's not an issue worth pushing or a vaguery worth exposing yourself to.

-Gene

RomanDad

04-27-2008, 6:39 PM

Does this mean that grip screws can't be considered pistol grips?

It means the current Riverside county D.A. is not considering grip screws to be grips.... We cant apply his decision to any other county, and perhaps not even in his own county given a different defendant and fact pattern.

FortCourageArmory

04-27-2008, 7:16 PM

Maybe we should send the Riverside sheriffs office a copy of our CA Aw ID Flowchart, so they don't make any more mistakes? ;)

Maybe we should send Jerry Brown one too! :D

I've given/sent copies of the flowchart to both my local PD and Sheriff's Office. I figure if it saves someone (especially me!!) even a moment's grief, then eveyone wins.

And this is great news to hear for Bright Spot. Two thumbs up guys!!! :clap::clap::clap:

shark92651

04-27-2008, 9:38 PM

Wow, this is what I get for working all weekend - I miss all the excitement! This is great news, I love it.

It was a good thing that RSD did the right thing and resloved this quickly and returned the rifles. I won't feel sorry at all for the RSD if Bright SPot sues and win. They only have their fellow LEO in Sacamento to blame for failing to be "experts".

So much for CA DOJ being the leaders in providing firearms expertise and information to law enforcement I guess they failed to provide that information to the RSD.

Yes and yes. However they don't have a huge selection of new handguns. I think they had some S&W M&Ps last week,and obviously they have other used guns, OLLs, ak recievers,parts etc..
Great place +1 Highly reccomended.

1919_4_ME

05-08-2008, 11:11 AM

Chris at Bright Spot is the best and is one of the few that will take the time to talk to you all day even though you dont buy anything from him and waiste his time.Now thats customer service!:)

GUNS4WORK

05-08-2008, 11:37 AM

YES WE DO!

StukaJr

05-08-2008, 1:19 PM

Awesome - great news on a win!

Slayer

05-08-2008, 4:27 PM

Chris at Bright Spot is the best and is one of the few that will take the time to talk to you all day even though you dont buy anything from him and waiste his time.Now thats customer service!:)

I can confirm this. I buy ammo from him when he has some in stock, but their kinda slow on stocking it.

Chris is the one who informed me of the wonderful world of OLL's.

covertcombatant

05-17-2008, 10:31 AM

I did a PPT on a few things on Tuesday. This was the first time going to bright spot. After meeting Chris and talking to him, this is the only place I will do business anymore. He is a great guy with great customer service. If you need anything check them out first!